Sunday, November 4, 2012

People love red! (And I’m not referring to Taylor Swift’s new album.)



How many times have you had the following conversation?

A:  “You have to check out _insert movie or series_.”

B:  “When is it on?”

A:  “Not sure but it’s on Netflix.”

B:  “Okay, I’ll add it to my queue.”

My queue is overfull.  Clearly, I've had this conversation a number of times.  As the article indicates, I am joined by many consumers in my ravenous use of Netflix.
According to the cited article, “Shares of Netflix Inc. jumped as much as 20 percent Wednesday after activist investor Carl Icahn reported a stake of nearly 10 percent in the company, which offers subscriptions to watch movies and TV shows over the Internet and on DVDs.

“Icahn disclosed the stake in a regulatory filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.”

Confirmedly, Netflix is a handy and nearly universal mode of movie viewing.  The dual benefits of the service are that users view many movies for the price of a small stack of $20 DVDs and that those same users avoid the overabundance of movie cases that necessitates the offensive black plastic stands of the early 2000s.

However, the company enjoyed greater success over the summer.  Apparently, “Netflix stock, which was trading 14 percent higher at $79.47 per share late on Wednesday afternoon, had reached $304 in July 2011 but has slumped after it imposed an unpopular price hike, faced new competition and increased spending on new content and an international expansion.”

What users must remember is that we price products and services.  Indeed, as Shark Tank persistently reaffirms, products are worth only as much as consumers are willing to pay.  Though the movie exchange service boasts several appealing perks, we mustn’t heedlessly commit ourselves to Netflix.  As membership prices rise, we must recall the minimal incremental costs borne by the company.  Indeed, it costs little to stream a single movie to one additional user.

Currently, Netflix is both a convenient and financially logical service.  However, if we passively accept swelling prices, the perks of Netflix will steadily shrink.  Eventually, we will forget the initial appeal of the service and think only of our tedious and overlarge monthly Netflix bills.

Let’s not outprice ourselves!  What are movies really worth to you?  Though I embrace the oblivion of on-screen fantasies, I can achieve similar groundless sensations by scanning a book from the local library.

As a population, perhaps we should be a little less accepting of monthly fees for luxury services.  Think about it.  If you eliminate such indulgences as data plans, Netflix services, and premium channels, how much more would your wallet weigh?

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